Baton Rouge Area Mississippi River 2009

I would have posted on the "Is Anybody There?" thread started by Ed. I'm glad he started it, because it brought some folks back online. I decided I'd start here since it is clear from the earlier thread that some folks are out there, and it's time to get back to fishing! Jimmy and I made it to the river this weekend and they were really biting. Foir the two of us, we had 3 boxes of worms and ran out. Most were perfect eating size. We had 3 at about 5 lb, and a few throwbacks, but as you can see the size was just right for plate. As a matter of fact, I ate some and they were delicious. We had some liver and that seemed to catch larger ones on average. For the entire period, I either had no bait, or had a bite on retrieval. They didn'e bite exceptionally hard. We brought home 42 that weighed a total of 67 lb. I included a few pics including the first fish of the year for each of us. Catdaddy, Brad, can't wait to get you folks out there again.

I would have posted on the "Is Anybody There?" thread started by Ed. I'm glad he started it, because it brought some folks back online. I decided I'd start here since it is clear from the earlier thread that some folks are out there, and it's time to get back to fishing! Jimmy and I made it to the river this weekend and they were really biting. Foir the two of us, we had 3 boxes of worms and ran out. Most were perfect eating size. We had 3 at about 5 lb, and a few throwbacks, but as you can see the size was just right for plate. As a matter of fact, I ate some and they were delicious. We had some liver and that seemed to catch larger ones on average. For the entire period, I either had no bait, or had a bite on retrieval. They didn'e bite exceptionally hard. We brought home 42 that weighed a total of 67 lb. I included a few pics including the first fish of the year for each of us. Catdaddy, Brad, can't wait to get you folks out there again.

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Dude, hollar at me the next time you are in I would like to hit the river with you. Looks like it was a good trip in spite of me not being on :roll_eyes:board.

Probably 99 % of the cats we catch are bluecats. We catch an occasional flathead. In every great while we will get a channelcat but it is much rarer than catching flatheads. Last weekend we were talking about the fact that in many areas blues are scarce. We are very fortunate to have such a strong fishery so close. How about around Dayton?

Catdaddy,
It was good to talk to you last night. I would like to get you out there again. I think our last trip was at Southern during last year's high water. I'll let you know about the next trip. You just gotta promise not to croak out there. You realize you are in deep do do if you have an attack when the fish are biting. I did make it back to BR this evening and will be here through the weekend. Maybe we can get a trip in on Sat. I don't know what the weather will bring. Anyway, talk to you later. Denny

Catdaddy,
It was good to talk to you last night. I would like to get you out there again. I think our last trip was at Southern during last year's high water. I'll let you know about the next trip. You just gotta promise not to croak out there. You realize you are in deep do do if you have an attack when the fish are biting. I did make it back to BR this evening and will be here through the weekend. Maybe we can get a trip in on Sat. I don't know what the weather will bring. Anyway, talk to you later. Denny

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Say the word and I'm there...Don't you worry your pretty little head over whether or not I will croak, I'm good to go but if such an event should occur you have my permission to use me as cut bait. :wink:

Dave,
Should have gone out this morning, although it would have been a little cool. Last time out, the power to the instruments, radio and pumps went out. I wanted to fix it before going out again in order to take care of emergencies. Since I am getting too darn old, I forgot that I had put in a new fuse block to make it easy to restore power. The fuse is by the engine battery and I believe it gets corroded after a time. I had spares. Unfortunately, just remembered about the fuse an hour ago, thinking I had a lot of troubleshooting ahead. It took about 30 seconds to fix.
I'm done in Beaumont on Friday. Can't wait for a little normalcy. I'm planning to spend most of March in Arizona, to recouperate from the last 5 months. We may get a chance to get out next Sat though. I'll give you a buzz.

Dave,
Should have gone out this morning, although it would have been a little cool. Last time out, the power to the instruments, radio and pumps went out. I wanted to fix it before going out again in order to take care of emergencies. Since I am getting too darn old, I forgot that I had put in a new fuse block to make it easy to restore power. The fuse is by the engine battery and I believe it gets corroded after a time. I had spares. Unfortunately, just remembered about the fuse an hour ago, thinking I had a lot of troubleshooting ahead. It took about 30 seconds to fix.
I'm done in Beaumont on Friday. Can't wait for a little normalcy. I'm planning to spend most of March in Arizona, to recouperate from the last 5 months. We may get a chance to get out next Sat though. I'll give you a buzz.

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Cool...I was stranded until about 1pm anyway. The transmission finally went nearly completely out in my old car so I just got mobile a little while ago.

Hopefully, I will get it straightened out by next weekend or at least have access to a ride down to your house.

I'm glad you did not have to spend any money for repairs on the Queen Mary.

Hello Denny,
The wife and I did get a chance to get to the water today. Got out there around 3Pm. The landing was nice and easy. Got to the spot and the fish filled the screen on Humminbird. Bite was good till we left. Called ourself going on a relaxing scouting trip but ended up with 17 nice ones in the ice chest.

Gladiator,
Great pictures. I am glad it was easy to get in and out and that the fish were biting. How long did you stay out there? Thanks again for sharing your pictures Hopefully we'll get back out there next weekend. Using liver again? On our trip last weekend the liver (the liver you gave us) seemed to catch the larger fish but just catching any makes it a fine trip.

We fished till 1730hrs to get out before dark. If I had read your post for the 15th, I would have gone earlier and prepared to put them in the boat. We thought they were going to be slow to nill and we were going to get some riding in with plenty of pictures. I will be back this week maybe for Mardi Gras. And I will have plenty of liver with me. The landing will be good for a while with the river headed up.

Ed, you're being kinda tough on us huh? For someone that didn't have an instrument I can guess at the data you requested. For my trip a week ago, it was
9am
nice,
Darrow,
worms and liver,
worms and liver,
deep (60ft)
cold,
tiny to 5lb,42
Most of info was in my last trip post.
I was not bragging about our trip. It was, however, wonderful getting out after being away for about 5 months, and I was a little excited about it. I have posted after about every trip, some of which I have been forced to be quite humble. Now I don't care if you are bragging or not, but I do want to see and hear about your fish when you go out. I'd appreciate your bait/technique info, but it's fun to hear you are having fun our there. By the way, know where we might pick up some slicker? I think that would be a tough bait to beat right now.
Take care.

Hey Denny, glad to see you back on the water. I made a trip yesterday and did pretty good. Ended up with about 25 with the largest going about 20 pounds.

You guys using chicken liver? Is it hard to keep on the hook? Just wondering because bait is hard to catch in the winter months and I am always looking to try different things. Good luck on your next fishin trip. Talk to you later, Randall.:006:

Hey Denny, glad to see you back on the water. I made a trip yesterday and did pretty good. Ended up with about 25 with the largest going about 20 pounds.

You guys using chicken liver? Is it hard to keep on the hook? Just wondering because bait is hard to catch in the winter months and I am always looking to try different things. Good luck on your next fishin trip. Talk to you later, Randall.:006:

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Hello Randall... to answer your question about liver...chicken liver isn't as hard as you would think to keep on a hook. I like using beef liver... it is tougher and the blood is stronger after all that is why we use it at all for the blood.

I have seen people soak cotton balls or piece of cotton sock in blood and use twine to attach the balls to their hook and catch the hell out of catfish.

I just had an idea that may work but I want to try it before I say anything just in case it sucks...talk to you later.

Glad to hear you're done in Beamount. I know that had to be draining!!!

Still no fishing down here for me. Still playing golf. Going this Wednesday. I'll be glad when these winter Texans leave so we can get more in. right now it takes about 6 hours per round due the massive number of people on the course. During the summer months, we'd be lucky to see one person on the course!!

I just started studying to get my certification to be a personal trainer. hoping to do it on the side and see where it takes me!! Hopefully be done by July!!

Scout,
It's nice hearing from you. I assume you're still fishing Vermillion (sp) Bay. Sounds like they are biting really well for you. Liver is pretty good, but, as you said, it is difficult to keep on the hook. I personally don't like fishing with it unless that is all they are biting on. I've seen some folks catch em like crazy on it, though.
Ed, do you know where the slicker came from? I didn't want to run you short of it. I wish we had some fast moving water. I've seen videos where people go out and catch skips as quick as they can throw their lines in and it looks like it would be fun to just fish for those. I guess the closest place would be on the Red or at 3 rivers. Have you heard of anyone catching them near us?
You all take care.